The Majestic Restaurant

a Downtown Kansas City steakhouse and live-jazz club at 931 Broadway Blvd, housed in the 1911 Fitzpatrick Saloon Building (National Register of Historic Places), a Pendergast-backed saloon, Prohibition-era speakeasy, and longtime jazz room. Locally owned by Frank and Jolyn Sebree, who bought the building in 2008 and reopened it as The Majestic Restaurant in November 2009 — carrying forward a steakhouse-and-jazz tradition that on the site traces to the 1911 saloon and, under the “Majestic” name, to a 1930s steakhouse and Doug Barnard’s New Majestic Steakhouse (1992). The seed “founded 2000” is incorrect and corrected below.

Description

The Majestic Restaurant is a Downtown Kansas City steakhouse and live-jazz club at 931 Broadway Blvd, on the edge of the historic Quality Hill neighborhood at 10th and Broadway. It serves a classic steakhouse menu paired with one of the city’s deepest whiskey selections (variously reported as “more than one hundred” and “over 300” whiskeys) and is anchored by nightly live Kansas City jazz, with the music programmed primarily in the building’s basement jazz club.¹²³

The restaurant’s identity is inseparable from its home: the 1911 Fitzpatrick Saloon Building, designed by architects Thurtle & Thayer and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The interior preserves the building’s original molded tin ceiling (restored in a mid-1980s rehabilitation), and the lower level — a Prohibition-era speakeasy — now operates as the jazz club, outfitted with an 1880 bar acquired during the restoration.²⁴

Ownership and history

Seed correction (important): The research brief seeded the restaurant as founded 2000. This is incorrect. The current establishment — The Majestic Restaurant — opened in November 2009; the immediately preceding business on the “Majestic” name lineage, Doug Barnard’s New Majestic Steakhouse, opened in 1992. No source supports a 2000 founding. (See timeline below.)¹⁴

The building (1911). James A. Fitzpatrick opened a saloon in the newly built Fitzpatrick Saloon Building in 1911, in the Quality Hill neighborhood, with the backing of the politically powerful Pendergast brothers — “Big Jim” and (later) “Boss Tom” Pendergast. The first floor served libations; upper floors reportedly held a brothel and Fitzpatrick’s own residence/office. When Prohibition arrived in 1920, the operation moved to the lower floor, where — thanks to Fitzpatrick’s favorable relationship with the Pendergast machine — a successful speakeasy ran throughout the era; local lore describes a secret alley entrance and a tunnel under Broadway connecting to a neighboring opera house. The building is described as a “silent witness” to KC’s jazz era, Prohibition, and the rise of the garment district.²⁴⁵

The “Majestic” name and the modern restaurant. Per the restaurant’s own history and Fox 4’s reporting, restaurateur Doug Barnard bought the “Majestic” name (which traced to a 1930s Kansas City steakhouse) and opened the New Majestic Steakhouse in the Fitzpatrick building in 1992, following a mid-1980s rehabilitation that restored the tin ceiling and installed the 1880 bar in the cellar jazz room. Frank Sebree III and his wife Jolyn Sebree purchased the building in 2008 and reopened it as The Majestic Restaurant in November 2009, continuing the steakhouse-and-jazz format that has operated on the site for roughly three decades under the Majestic banner.¹⁴

Local ownership. The Sebrees are local owners; the restaurant is privately and locally held, with no chain, franchise, or out-of-market corporate parent identified. (The ownership cap table is not public — see verification detail.)¹⁴³

Links

• Website: https://www.majestickc.com/
• Phone: (816) 221-1888

See also

• downtown-kc
• jazz-era-kc
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. The Majestic Restaurant — official history. https://majestickc.com/history/ — establishment in 1992 as “The New Majestic Steakhouse” by local restaurateur Doug Barnard; Frank Sebree III and Jolyn purchased the building in 2008 and reopened as The Majestic Restaurant in November 2009; nightly KC jazz; whiskey program; 1911 Fitzpatrick building / Pendergast backing; speakeasy-to-jazz-club basement; mid-1980s restoration of original molded tin ceiling + 1880 bar. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. KC Yesterday (Substack) — “Majestic Steakhouse (The Fitzpatrick Saloon Building).” https://kcyesterday.substack.com/p/majestic-steakhouse-the-fitzpatrick — 931 Broadway Blvd built 1911 by architects Thurtle & Thayer in Quality Hill (10th & Broadway); James Fitzpatrick + Pendergast brothers; “silent witness” from jazz era and Prohibition to the garment district; now The Majestic Restaurant, “premier destination for steak lovers and jazz enthusiasts.” (Some detail paywalled.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Yelp — The Majestic Restaurant, 931 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO. https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-majestic-restaurant-kansas-city-2 — confirms address, steakhouse category, active operation (reviews updated into May 2026), live-jazz reputation; “over 300 whiskeys” reputation also cited in search-result summaries. ↩ ↩²

4. Fox 4 KC — “The Majestic Restaurant: A window into the ghosts of Kansas City’s past” (Beneath the Bricks). https://fox4kc.com/news/beneath-the-bricks/the-majestic-restaurant-a-window-into-the-ghosts-of-kansas-citys-past/ — Doug Barnard / New Majestic Steakhouse 1992; Fitzpatrick saloon with Pendergast backing; brothel + residence upstairs; Prohibition move to lower floor / speakeasy; Boss Tom using top floor for “business” meetings; mid-1980s restoration restoring molded tin ceiling and 1880 bar for the jazz club; nightly KC jazz; “more than one hundred whiskeys.” [NOTE: HTTP 403 on direct WebFetch at draft time; facts corroborated via search snippet — see verification detail.] ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Our Changing Lives — “Shady History at the Majestic Restaurant.” https://www.ourchanginglives.com/shady-history-at-the-majestic-restaurant/ — building history, Pendergast (Big Jim + Boss Tom) backing, 1911 construction, second-floor bordello + Fitzpatrick’s third-floor office/apartment, 1919–1920 Prohibition speakeasy with secret alley entrance and tunnel under Broadway to neighboring opera house, jazz cellar. ↩